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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Indie brand GlitterDaze has a new polish duo coming out in a few days called the St. Patty's Day Party. I personally adore green polish so I was excited to see these beauties when I heard about them.

Lucky Clover is an emerald green jelly chock full of green glitter flakes. It can be used at only one or two coats for a more sheer look or layered to be opaque, like I have done here. This is four coats. I would recommending wrapping your tips, as jellies like this can look lighter near the ends of your nail. I love this, beautiful and perfect for St. Patty's.

Heart O' Gold is a glitter topper, it has a clear base with white hearts, holo gold hearts and stars, and multi-sized green and copper glitter, and gold microshimmer. I adore the look of this! Not only a perfect complement to Lucky Clover, but just a beautiful creation as itself. The larger glitters were a pain to get on my brush, I'm guessing mostly due to the mini bottle. This is two coats, with fishing the glitters out to place them, over Lucky Clover.

Sunlight

Shade

Just a matter of opinion (like this whole blog haha) but I don't care for the mini bottles. The cap is nice and long to help with application, but the brush is so short, in order to fit in the bottle, that it hinders painting. When I was trying to polish the top of my nail, near the cuticle, I almost hit the end of my nail on the cap. Other than that, I'd say this duo is a slam dunk! Especially since you can get them in full size bottles, which I would recommend. I feel like I always pick the wrong base color for my glitters and this combo takes away the guess work!

You will be able to purchase these starting on Thursday, February 28th atwww.GlitterDazeNP.com for $11 for a full size and $6 for a mini bottle. You can keep up with the news on GD by liking their Facebook page, and by subscribing to their Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. What do you think of these two lacquers? Do you have any fun St. Patrick's Day plans? I'll probably be drinking some green beer and blogging ;)

Monday, February 25, 2013

Zoya has recently come out with their newest collection for Spring, called Lovely. There are three dewy metallics and three fresh creams.

Jacqueline is described as a magnolia nude cream. It's an warm milk type of color with the slightest hint of a shimmer. I love this color, it's incredibly chic and classic. The formula was a little thicker than I would prefer but not terrible. This is two coats with top coat.

Neely is a muted vintage spring green cream. I have lots of polishes in this shade range but this one is a bit unique in its cool paleness. It was a bit on the streaky side for me. This is three coats with top coat.

Blu is a cool pastel baby blue cream. It's a bit stark and looks nice and mod-like against my olive skin tone. This was about as thick as Jacqueline, maybe a bit more buttery. Two coats with top coat.

Piaf is a light to medium forsythia yellow with a metallic shimmer. This screams spring to me and it's a unique color in my collection. The shimmer is almost glass fleck like, very cool. I can imagine it not appealing to everyone, but I really like it. This is two coats with top coat.

GeiGei is a cherry blossom pink with metallic shimmer. I really love this color. It's quite girly and pretty. The metallic is heavy in this so it can get that weird seized appearance if you pile on the coats too quickly so take care. It's also a bit sheer. This is three coats with top coat.

Julie is a light wisteria purple with metallic shimmer. This had the best formula out of the bunch, thin but nice coverage. I also really enjoy how this color looks on me. This is two coats with top coat.

Zoya lacquers are sold on their website www.zoya.com for $8 each. What do you think about this collection? I find them all to be very pleasing and spring-like. Another lovely collection from Zoya ;)

Sunday, February 24, 2013

So you know that Cult Nails has made my favorite top coat ever, my favorite black nail polish ever, and now they've added another home run to their collection, my favorite white polish ever! This is Tempest, the perfect white creme polish that is opaque and smooth two coats or less! Amazing and practically unheard of until now. It has a high gloss finish and is shiny without top coat.

This was originally a release with CN's 2nd Anniversary Special Release Collection last month. I am always wanting to wear white polish as a base for many of my glitter polishes but almost never do because I haven't found a good one. I'm unbelievably glad to have this in my arsenal and thanks to Cult Nails for making it! You can pick this beauty staple up at www.shop.cultnails.com for $12.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

This is a polish from a new-to-me indie brand called Jindie Nails. The brand is quickly becoming infamous for its "crelly" glitter polishes. Crelly is a combination of cream and jelly that lets the base become opaque but allows the glitter to shine through.

This one is called Burrrberry a polish from Jindie's Winter Chic collection. The base is a beautiful white and the multisize glitters are in bright sky blue, strawberry red, wine red, and some even gleam holographic. Beautiful colors, they remind me of a winter scarf. This is two coats with topcoat.

You can buy this from the Jindie Nails Etsy store, Llarowe, and from Mei Mei's Signatures. How do you like my mani? Everyone commented on how my nails looked like easter eggs the day I wore it haha. I just got a bunch more Jindie Nails polishes so look forward to that soon!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

This polish is from Illamasqua's newest collection I'mperfection, as in I'M PERFECTION. This is their statement on the idea "Stand up and show the world what makes you perfectly, imperfect. We want you to highlight the features other brands encourage you to cover up. Because life isn't about finding yourself, life is about celebrating who you really are." LOVE them!

Freckle is a light tan brown milky creme shade with lots of fine black glitter and medium sized black hexes. The glitter doesn't appear to be metallic, more of a satin finish. The name is perfect for this, seriously reminds me of a beautiful freckly face! I personally adore redheads and freckles, I wish I had more! This is lovely, although a whole collection of these (in different base colors) isn't my favorite idea. I do like this one though and am glad I was able to try it. This is two coats. It's not particularly shiny, I wish I would've used topcoat on this swatch.

You can buy this and the other I'mperfection lacquers on Illamasqua's website for £14.50 or from Sephora for $16. I will also be showing you a blush, lipgloss and blush brush from this collection soon! What do you think of the speckled polish look?

Monday, February 18, 2013

I showed you the first half of the OPI Skyfall collection celebrating the 50th anniversary of James Bond the other day and now here are the rest!

This is On Her Majesty's Secret Service. This is a way complex shade, a dusty blue effect that is a combination of a blue, green, and gold microsparkles that duochrome with a slight pink and purple hue and a silvery cast. Very cool! It was quite thin and a bit sheer, but I build it up using three coats to a reasonable finish.

Here is The World Is Not Enough, one of my favorite Bond movie songs. The polish has the same type of interesting microsparkle look as the one above, this time in a taupey shade. The sparkles are in copper, pink, gold, and green. This one ended up being more sheer than I liked, even with three coats it doesn't give the impact I would've preferred.

You Only Live Twice is a beautiful deep pink magenta shade with massive amounts of shimmery glass fleck particles buried within. The flecks bling out in fuchsia and gold and compliment the base shade beautifully. I like this a lot but seems almost out of place with the other colors in this collection. Two coats.

This polish is called Live and Let Die. Unfortunately, my bottle broke in transit so I had to decant what was left of it into an empty bottle. I actually have about 80% left which was lucky because this shade is so amazing! It's a deep dark green with flecks of metallic gold and green. I love this look, almost like a night sky but in green! This is two coats, but you could get away with using one because it's so buttery!

The Spy Who Loved Me is a gorgeous bright apple red with gallons of gold fleck shimmer bits. This one really glows and unfortunately I couldn't capture it's fabulousity in a photo. You really need to see this in real life to get the hotness! Two coats.

This is Goldeneye, on longer nails because I mistakenly left it out when I was swatching the previous 11 polishes from this collection. This is almost two weeks later (see that growth? all thanks to Duri Rejuvacote). This blingy shade is made up of flat flakelike metallic bright gold glitter bits that build up on themselves to produce such a beautiful gilded effect it's unbelievable. It's on that orangey side of yellow gold and it just screams luxury! This is three coats. It can get a bit messy when time to remove, so be careful.

You can buy OPI products in salons and professional retailers like Ulta,
Trade Secret, etc. for $8.50 for a 0.5 oz. bottle. So after seeing all the swatches from this collection, which one is your favorite? I think my pick is Live and Let Die. Or maybe Goldeneye. This collection had a lot of solid colors and is a welcome asset to my stash!

Friday, February 15, 2013

OPI came out with a James Bond themed collection for the Holiday 2012 season. It marks the 50th anniversary of the Bond franchise and the release of the new Sony movie Skyfall starring Daniel Craig. The collection is made up of 12 shades that are as dazzling and daring as 007 himself ;) Here are the first half for your viewing pleasure.

First, the namesake of the collection, Skyfall. This is a warm, brown toned shiny red creme. I find this a very luxe shade, a bit reserved but rich. It was a little thin so I used three coats. I love how shiny it is!

Next is Casino Royale, which was my personal favorite Bond movie. Another super shiny creme, this time in a plummy purple. I love red-toned purples like this! This one is a little more buttery than Skyfall. Two coats.

Here is the notorious Moonraker, a polish that many of my fellow lacquerista bloggers have voiced negative opinions about in their reviews. I can see why it won't work for everyone, but I actually happen to love it! It's a slightly steel blue silver chrome. It's got a formula that will show every brush stroke you make if you're not mindful, but dries beautiful and soft if you take extra care. Maybe it's because I knew it would be a problem child before I used it that I was able to achieve this look. *shrug* It reminds me of the Essie chromes, but this was easier for me to use. Two coats.

Here is glitter topcoat The Living Daylights. I attempted a gradient effect over Moonraker, but I don't know how successful I was haha. The glitter in this are medium sized hexes in faded colors of silver, gold, turquoise, and orangey copper. Interesting and unique! I love seeing big brands go outside their creative boxes. I just dabbed this on, so it's not really any more than one "coat".

This guy is called Die Another Day, a orange toned bright glowy shimmer. I love formulas like this, glassy smooth, shiny and easy to control. I didn't think I would like this as much as I do, it's really stunning. That shimmer just glistens! Two coats.

And the last of this half is Tomorrow Never Dies, a blue toned purple metallic shimmer. If you're not aware, I have a long standing disdain for blue toned purple polishes, but somehow this one gets a pass haha. It has an ultrafine threadlike shimmer that glistens blue and pink and just makes this baby pop! Uber hot. Two coats.

You can buy OPI products in salons and professional retailers like Ulta,
Trade Secret, etc. for $8.50 for a 0.5 oz. bottle. Did you pick up any of the polishes in this collection? Which of these six are you liking the most? I am pretty happy with this collection, and the rest will bring even more hotness to see. Stay tuned for the next half of the collection!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

I won a giveaway GlitterDaze was having on their Facebook page a while ago and my prize was the entire Sunset in the City collection they had just come out with! Woot, woot! The collection has five multichrome scattered holo nail lacquers. They glimmer and twinkle and shine!

R to L: Nightfall in New York City, Twilight in Tucson,
Dusky in Dallas, Afterglow in Aspen, Sundown in
Seattle

Here I am wearing two coats of each shade over my favorite black creme, Cult Nails Nevermore. On my thumbnail is Nightfall in New York City, a combo of blue, purple, red and orange. My index finger has on Twilight in Tucson, which shifts in shades of pink, red, orange, and yellow with a glimpse of purple. My middle finger features Dusky in Dallas, a color mix of lavender, purple, red, and orange with hints of pink. Afterglow in Aspen is on my ring finger, showing a composite of hues in turquoise, blue, purple, and red. And last, my pinky nail shows Sundown in Seattle, a medley of orange, copper, yellow, and red.

Sunlight

Indoors

My favorite of the bunch is probably Nightfall in New York City, I love the color combination. They all applied very well, not thick at all. They also build upon themselves nicely and can be worn on their own or layered. I like this collection because of the addition of the holo glitter, it separates them from other multichromes that may seem similar.

You can buy GlitterDaze on their website or their Etsy shop for $11.50 for a full size bottle and $6.25 for a mini. You can keep up with news about GD products on their Facebook page. What do you think of these babies? Do you think multichrome polishes benefit from the holo glitter? What's your favorite of the collection?

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

This is Fleur est Belle by indie brand Cirque. It's an exclusive shade created for Singapore stockist Mei Mei's Signatures. The owner of Cirque describes it as "petal pink evoking images of the warm tropics and pink flowers that emanate whimsical femininity". I was convinced I needed this polish from the early previews I saw.

It has a beautiful sweet pink jelly base with golden shimmer, flakes, different shapes of glitter in satin and matte white, pink, and metallic gold. I love how it's sheer enough to build upon itself and show the different layers of glitter. Very delicate and intricate. This is three thin coats. Jelly glitters can gum if you apply them too quickly, so wait a bit for each layer to dry before you paint on the next one for best results.

You can buy this up exclusively at Mei Mei's Signatures. My total ended up being about $24 including shipping which I felt was pretty fair. And the shipping didn't take too long, about three weeks. What do you think about this polish? I'm head over heels! This has to be my new favorite polish of 2013! You can keep up with news from Cirque on their website and Facebook page.

Monday, February 4, 2013

I last showed you some Maya Cosmetics nail lacquers in a December post and recently got a few more for review. Here they are!

This little thing is called Sugar Rush, a polish with a pale pink base, pastel pink, white, and medium pink microspeckley matte glitter. Very interesting finish, I don't think I have another one like this. Pretty decent formula, opaque coverage in two coats. This dries satiny so if you want it shiny paint on a nice coat of topcoat. I think this would be perfect for Valentine's Day!

Next is Graceless Lady, a darkish slate grey blue polish with lots of holo bits. The holo is on the subdued side and I wouldn't call it a glitter, but more of a shimmer. It's a chic shade with a little kick of sass. This is two coats, fabulous formula. And it's quite shiny!

And my favorite of the three, Flyin' Solo. It has a clear base with small silvery gunmetal hexes, black shards, large red and black hearts, and blue/purple iridescent shards. I wasn't sold on this at first but after I layered it over Graceless Lady, I fell in love. The red hearts are metallic which was a nice change and pop out orangey at certain angles. The blue flakes are what make this polish special though, I think. Very surprising and fun! This is two coats.

You can buy Maya Cosmetics polish at their website, which is currently under construction. It will be back online February 10th but you can sign up to get notified when it's back up. You can keep up with their restocks and new products on their Facebook page and their blog. Do any of these catch your eye?

Saturday, February 2, 2013

A while ago my friend Mara from the blog Mara in Polishland asked if I could review some polishes from her new indie polish company's first collection. Her brand is called White Owl Lacquers and the first collection is called After All This Time. It's inspired by the Harry Potter universe and I'm ecstatic over them! In case you didn't know, I love HP and everything about the magical world!

First is Dwelling on Dreams, inspired by the wise words of Dumbledore to Harry when he gets wrapped up in the displays from the Mirror of Erised in The Philosopher's Stone. It has a milky white jellyish base with gold and teal glitters. I love the color combination and in three coats it turned out really beautiful.

Next is Phoenix Tears, named for the healing powers of Dumbledore's companion bird Fawkes. It has a clear base with satiny white, silver, green and purple glitters with teal microshimmer. I love the collection of glitters, except the satiny white large hexes, but overly large glitters usually don't thrill me. Otherwise I love this. This is two coats over Nicole by OPI I Sea You and Raise You.

This is called Kittens and Teacups to represent cruel and evil Professor Umbridge, who first appears in The Order of the Phoenix. This has a milky white jelly base with small black squares and satin pink hexes. The base on this was a little more sheer than Dwelling on Dreams unfortunately and seemed to not be as shiny when dry. Also I found myself wanting a little more glitter payoff. Three coats.

Here is Basilisk Venom, which represents the evil snake from Chamber of Secrets. This is a crazy mix of different types of black glitter and orange and yellow hexes with a copper shimmer in a clear base. I love this! Very nice, lots of glitter got on the nail with minimal effort. This is two coats over OPI DS Luxurious.

Pumpkin Pasties is the name of a treat that the kids snack on on their way to Hogwarts on the Hogwarts Express. They sound so yummy! This polish is a peachy pale orange milky jelly with matte hex glitter in brown, red, orange, and yellow. This is the same type of base as Kittens and Teacups, sheerish and not particularly shiny. I can see this being more exciting layered over a peach creme. This is three coats.

And last is Moony, inspired by beloved Professor Lupin, a werewolf (lycanthrope) who first appears in The Prisoner of Azkaban. This has a clear base with tons of black and silver glitter. Very blingy and beautiful! This is two coats over Nicole by OPI Feeling Grapeful.

You can learn more about White Owl Lacquers on their Facebook page. They are sold in their online shop for $9 each. So how much do you love these? Are you a Potterhead like me? I always said I would be a great Ravenclaw!